Dinner tonight is a casserole that starts with a mass of chopped kale and spinach, lightly salted and wilted in a hot skillet. A pound of penne is cooked al dente and layered atop the greens. Next, the cast iron gets a drizzle of oil, a large diced onion, and a couple pounds of sliced mushrooms (any kind will do, but it’s spring so we treat ourselves to plump morels). As the fungi soften a pint of frozen sweet corn and several stalks of fresh chopped asparagus are added, seasoned to perfection, and spread evenly over the pasta. Then comes the white sauce, rich and creamy, complemented with the remnants of mushrooms and onions, a dash of salt and pepper, a generous portion of shredded cheddar. It is ceremoniously draped over the awaiting casserole and all goes in the oven until bubbly and lightly browned. Somebody pinch me.
There is much to be said about wholesome food prepared in a home kitchen, food that is unprocessed and grown without chemical inputs and free of preservatives or dyes or ingredients I can’t pronounce. Too many highly processed items on grocery shelves are palatable but not actually food, and as a regular diet they can lead to a myriad of health problems. There’s an unavoidable string of environmental benefits attached to organic production and the quality of the final product is superior in nutrition and flavor. According to Mayo Clinic, foods earning the organic label are also higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, likely higher in antioxidants, and lower in heavy metals and pesticide residues.
We had a meeting with our financial advisor, Brad. He’s worked at his trade for nearly 40 years and is good at it. He understands the market and the merits of portfolio diversification and has expectations based on historic performance. He is confident in his advice with one caveat: the mounting national debt and the looming economic hardship it promises. But not all debt are monetary. Within the first few months of every year we take from the planet more resources than can be replaced the same year. That is a debt that gets little attention and has been mounting for decades. Environmental bankruptcy can’t turn out well.
I said, “Brad, do you rate climate change as a world threat?” He answered swiftly: “If we don’t get the debt under control, we won’t have a world.”
And there you have it: the economy trumping the environment. It’s nothing against Brad doing his job, and it’s not that we’ve totally ignored the environment in our zeal for growth. We’ve cleaned up rivers, added scrubbers to smokestacks, pollution controls to combustion engines, protected areas of wilderness and rich habitats. And while we seem to have less tolerance for blatant environmental offenses, we continue to overlook some of the most threatening— the loss of microbial life in soil, the worldwide decline in biodiversity, the record concentration of carbon in the atmosphere.
In March the ocean temperature off the east coast of North America was the highest ever recorded, more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1981-2011 average, and scientists don’t quite know what it means. Wildfires in Alberta have already consumed 150 times more land at this time of year than in the last five years combined.
Our visit with Brad was good, and he gave us a thread of confidence that what is left of our life savings might carry us a few more years. Meanwhile, as the US flirts with default on its debt and our representatives pretend to negotiate the matter (which by law is non-negotiable), proposals to cut environmental spending are brought to the fore, and as capitalism runs amuck and environmental threats are discounted, the damage continues. There are so many great ideas— actions that would give ecological systems highest priority and offer genuine hope for a prosperous and more just world— but apathy, misinformation, special interests, and the status quo are hogging center stage.
It’s May in the heartland, and the blue skies are whitened with smoke from Alberta fires. The other day on a walkabout, the Merlin app picked up over 50 birdsongs: orioles, warblers, vireos, thrushes, a bonafide symphony. Birds still make a worthy show on our little piece of the continent, though nearly every species is experiencing population decline, as are insects, amphibians, and reptiles.
But right now there’s a casserole, golden brown and bubbling with goodness, most of it made from what we grew or wild harvested, all of it prepared with satisfaction in our home kitchen. We know every ingredient, it fits our budget, and producing it did not contribute to the environmental or national debt. It is simplicity and wholesomeness and gratitude baked in a dish, hope with a cheese topping, common sense for a better planet. The world needs a good casserole.
